Resident Evil Desolation: The Zephyrus Chronicles
by ravenous slayer
Summary: Part One of the RE Desolation Trilogy. A recollection of the many struggles of Steven Caine due to the evil phamaceutical company, Zephyrus. This is the Zephyrus Chronicles. OC POV. Note: Tons of violence, gore and cursing. R&R. Enjoy!
1. Chapter one: Beginnings

Resident Evil Desolation: The Zephyrus Chronicles 

Chronicle One: Redwood's Ruin

Chapter One: Beginnings

Hello, my name is Stephen Caine. I am 24 years old. Over the last few years, my life was turned upside down. However at the moment my life is tolerable. I will explain how my life changed. It all happened four years ago on September 13, 2008. Everything was typical. Nothing ever happened in my hometown of Redwood, California. Life was good. However, something was a bit odd. It was a strange feeling that I had that day.

I didn't really pay any attention to it since life was the same as it always was. I did what I would usually do in the mornings although I spent some extra time in the mirror looking at my appearance. It was the end of my summer vacation and I was scheduled to return to college the next day.

After enjoying some time off during the day, I felt a little tired and ended up dozing off in front of the TV. I awoke to the sound of yelling and screaming. I thought it was too early for a party to be starting. It seemed my neighbours in my apartment building were causing trouble again. I blocked out the sound and returned to sleeping. Several minutes later, I heard someone violently banging on the door as if to break it down.

I quickly put my clothes back on and scrambled to find my baseball bat. I put my shoes on just in case I needed to escape from the intruder. I slowly unlocked my door and slowly began to open it. I was surprised to see that it was one of my neighbours. However there was something different about him. He wore bloody clothes and had a creepy appearance that was unlike him. He smelled like a dead animal.

He swiftly attacked me. I struck him several times in the head as he tried to strangle me. I swung as hard as I could and knocked off his was clear to me that he was dead but it seemed more like he was like one of those creatures in Night of the Living sure looked like he was a zombie. I backed off and closed my door. That feeling that I had was a warning about that.

I changed the channel to the local news station and was startled to learn that this was the beginning of a zombie reporters were scared. The explained the situation and what was happening outside. The anchorman knew that something like this would happen. He stated that the sicknesses that people were getting a few days before was similar to something in another area.

I had seen and heard enough. I quickly exited the room and saw more of them shuffling around randomly and moaning. There was no time for me to locate any survivors as I needed to focus more on my life. I tried to use the elevator but it was out of order due to a power failure that had randomly occurred at that moment. I quickly made my way to the stairwell and went down the staircase. As I went down a few floors, I was face to face with another dead man. He attempted to bite me but I struck him with the bat in the jaw and watched him fall down the stairs. I ran past him and got to the second floor and noticed that the stairs were broken and there was no way to pass that point.

I opened the door to the second floor and ran down the hallway to find a way out. I dodged all the undead that approached me and kicked the door to the room in front of me and found a large hole in the centre of the room. I looked down the hole and saw a few crushed zombies under a piano. I jumped down on to the piano and continued to make my way down the hall. I noticed that the exit was barricaded. I jumped through a broken window near the barricaded door.

I was shocked to see that the town was already devastated. It was hard for me to understand how this could happen so suddenly. I continued to make my way through the ravaged streets. I walked west towards the forested area near the park. There were many zombies walking around so I had to be careful and avoid them. I kept walking and eventually made it to the park. I saw many zombies in the area so I decided to quickly leave. I jogged past a couple bushes. I was grabbed by a zombie lying on the floor. It pulled itself towards my shin but I smashed it over the head with my bat until I saw a pool of blood around it.

I made my way to the forested area. I thought it would be a good idea to go to my old hangout spot. As I approached the area, I noticed that the place looked heavily guarded. There were makeshift gates and rows of barbed wire around the place. I entered through the door and was met with a gun. I quickly shouted, "Wait! Don't shoot! It's me, Steve!" The man wielding the gun lowered his weapon. He said, "Steve? How did you get all the way here without being attacked by those damn zombies?" I responded, "I defended myself with my trusty baseball bat." That was Stanley Roswell, my best friend's eldest brother. He quickly barricaded the door I entered. "It's not safe out there. This whole town went to hell. I never expected them to cause a mess like this without any warnings. They must still have a problem with me." He mumbled.

I wanted some answers. "Stan, what are you talking about?" I asked. He replied, "It was a business proposal. I rejected it and then they caused this. You know about me wanting to become a scientist right? Well some company called Zephyrus wanted to recruit me. I went to their facility to see what they had to offer. But I saw what they did. They claimed to be a pharmaceutical company but it was clear that they were trying to create weapons instead. They did human experimentation and used their drugs to make monsters out of those people. It was horrible. I wanted nothing to do with them. So I refused their offer and told them that I would never join them. They told me that they would not forget what I did. It wasn't long before they thought of getting back at me. I convinced my family that it would be best to move back to Redwood to avoid those people." He explained.

I understood. "I understand the situation. Is there anyone else here with you?" Stan nodded, "Yes, Alex and my younger brothers are here with me. But that's not all. Alex rounded up as many of your friends as he could. There are a lot of people that we knew that have been killed by those zombies. Derek, Morris, Jack, Jeff and Vince are here as well. They were lucky to be found by us. If not for us, they would have died like everyone else." As he had finished talking, my best friend Alex approached me. He said, "Steve! You made it, buddy! You're just in time. We are trying to come up with a plan to get out of Redwood at the moment."

Alex seemed to know the situation better than me. He continued, "You can't leave until the plan has been set. I know it sounds vague but you got to trust me. Remember that annoying kid, Rick Langston? Well, I've seen him a few hours ago. But the last thing I heard from him was that the hospital grounds were doomed. He said, 'Don't worry about the rest of your friends, they're gone…'" Alex turned towards me. He knew what this meant. He whispered, "Forget about everyone else, I don't quite understand exactly what happened to this place but I know this isn't good. I hope our families are aware of this as well or if they are okay. Maybe we just check. Anyways, we are in major trouble. Something big is going down…and it smells very fishy." Stan interrupted him. "Don't get carried away Alex! There's too much at stake right now. We can't look for our families. Steve, follow me. We are going to discuss what our plan of action is."

I turned to Alex, "Stan already explained everything to me. It's this Zephyrus group that caused this whole mess. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be holed up here." While we were exchanging words, Stan declared, "You have all witnessed the full extent of this issue. I was already aware of this but nobody listened. It's just us here. Our parents are probably in the same condition as those freaks, dead and hungry for flesh. This starts our quest of survival now…"

Alex said quietly, "Is this the best way to approach things, Stan? I'm not so sure we can get through this at the moment." Stan shook his head, "Getting some medical supplies and arms is next to impossible. I know this because the police station and hospital are swarming with undead. Those locations got hit the hardest. Now, let's come up with this plan quickly before we are next." Alex nodded and replied. "Alright, you heard him, let's do this. I'll get my brothers involved as well." He left the room for a couple minutes.

Morris was worried. "This isn't going to end good for any of us! I can't believe this is happening!" Morris yelled. Jack was constantly walking back and forth. "Everything is not going well. We might be screwed. Man, we all have the worst luck to be in a situation like this." Vince didn't like the negativity. "Come on, we can't think this way. We're all going to die if this continues. Don't give up just yet. We can get through this if we work together." Jeff and Derek talked amongst themselves while we were waiting. Suddenly, Stan slammed his hands on the desk in front of him to get our attention.

"Alright guys, listen up. I prepared a plan to get us out of Redwood. First of all, I want you all to get a weapon. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you can defend yourselves. I don't want any casualties. I want you all to be able to escape. We'll be heading to the nearby woodworks to stock up on supplies and weapons. Once we get what we need we'll be heading to upper Redwood to reach the cable car station which leads to the outskirts of Redwood. Do you have any questions? If not then we'd better hurry up and get out of here." He explained. Jack decided to ask a question. "How do we know that the warehouse is actually safe? We might be heading to our deaths." Stan quickly responded, "We don't know that but it's our best bet at escaping with our lives. If you want to stay here, you're more than welcome to. I plan on get out of this hell hole." Jack sighed. "Alright, you've made your point. I have no choice but to go along with the plan. I just hope that we make it out of here alive."

Everyone else agreed. We got up from our seats and prepared for our escape. Morris was the only one that seemed to have doubts. Stan had some extra ammo for his gun. He took a metal bar with him just for better protection. We were prepared to leave. Suddenly, there were loud noises heard from the door. The barricaded door collapsed and undead people entered the room. We had to leave immediately.

"Ah!!! The zombies are coming in!" yelled Morris. Jack was annoyed. "Damn zombies. Why did they have to come now? I was just getting used to being safe in here." Jeff grabbed him. "Come on, Jack! If we don't get moving now, we'll be killed!" Derek rushed ahead of them. "Sorry guys but I'll be going ahead of you. Just be sure to hurry it up!" Vince began running to the backdoor. "Let's get out of here through this door!" I grabbed Morris and told Alex to run. We began bolting out the door. We weren't sure where we were going but we knew that it was bad to stay there. This was no ordinary day at all. This was the day that the zombie apocalypse began in Redwood, California…


	2. Chapter two: The Assault

Resident Evil

Desolation:

The Zephyrus Chronicles

Chronicle One: Redwood's Ruin

Chapter 2: The assault

We ran. We ran far away. The zombies could not catch up since they did not run after us. I knew that there was no way to stand up to that amount of enemies. I assumed we had become safer since running away but I was wrong. Zombies were the least of our worries. Things were about to get very ugly. The guys and I had escaped that place. We had decided to make our way to the warehouse since it was in the vicinity. As we were running, Morris suddenly stopped. We turned to see what the problem was. He seemed to want to give up on survival. "I don't think we'll survive this mess. I don't have the willpower to survive." Morris sputtered. "Don't talk like that, Morris. We must do what we have to if we want to survive." I advised. Morris didn't like what I was saying. "Shut up, Steve! I don't want to go on a pointless survival mission with you. I just want to go home! I don't care about anything else right now." He immediately started walking away. I tried to stop him. Alex noticed something and told everyone who was talking to shut up, he pointed at the sky and said, "It's getting really dark out, but I see the moon. Anyways, I thought I heard howling. Hey Steve, get Morris over here. If he gets too far, he'll definitely die." I obeyed my friend's orders and ran towards Morris. "Morris!" I called out. "Leave me be!" He shouted back at me. I was about to tell him to run towards me but it was too late. About 10-12 zombie dogs came running out of nowhere. They were growling loudly. Morris saw them too late. They lunged and began biting like savages. Morris was bleeding badly. His screams of pain were muffled. He pushed some of the dogs off and began hitting them with a stick he found. He managed to kill one dog and shouted at us. Morris yelled, "D-damn it! There's no hope for me! Run away guys! I'm going to stay back and keep them busy! In the meantime, you should get out of here now! Sorry I couldn't manage to survive. It was nice knowing you guys," One of the dogs jumped on his back and bit his neck. Eventually the dogs climbed on him and began tearing at his throat. Morris was dead. The dogs tore out his throat and began to look our way. "Shit! Morris, we'll avenge you!!!" I yelled. Alex grabbed me. "Let's go! If we don't leave now, Morris' death will have been in vain!" "Alright Alex, I'm ready to go." We ran until we got to our destination. We had to head inside the large warehouse. We locked the doors. We had thought of this place as being our safe haven. However, we were wrong as I could already see signs that something was terribly wrong. I noticed trails of blood and broken glass on the ground near some crates. I prepared my weapon and looked around the crates. I heard disgusting sounds coming from the darkness nearby. Some new creatures were lurking in the darkness of the warehouse and they emerged swiftly. These creatures looked like zombies except they had yellow eyes and sharper teeth. They also had claws and crimson skin. They seemed much deadlier than zombies. The crimson zombies bolted towards us. It seemed like they somehow evolved and were able to run now. "Oh shit! I thought that this would be a much safer place!" Derek shouted. Jeff walked back slowly. "C-come on! We'd b-better get out of here while we still can!" He stuttered. I shouted, "Scatter!!!" Everyone listened to me. We all ran in different directions. In the confusion of the panic, Derek was bitten by a crimson zombie. Stan quickly shot off its head with his handgun. Derek knew what was going to happen. "D-damn it! Why did this have to happen to me?! Shit! Stan, I want you to tie me up with the rope you have when we escape from these bastards. I have no other choice but to accept my fate. It was nice knowing all of you guys and I hope you all survive this. Now, let's get going!!!" He declared. The crimson zombies continued to chase us. I ran up some stairs and kicked a nearby door open. Two crimson zombies chased me. I locked the door that I went through and apparently, the door kept them out. I looked around the room. It seemed that someone was here before me. I began to investigate. I found a flashlight which was still on. There were papers everywhere. They had different news paper clippings. I picked one up. It said,'1998'. I read through the text and it said something about this sort of thing happening in a place called 'Raccoon City'. I had heard something about this event back then but thought nothing of it due to the fact that I was a kid. This 'Raccoon City' was reported to have been destroyed by a government launched missile. The entire city was destroyed and only a handful of survivors escaped so this event that my friends and I had to deal with happened before. The news clippings had all the information of the past outbreaks of the 'T virus'. Things were starting to make sense. The 'T virus' was made by a company called 'Umbrella'. Everything was clear now. What Stan had told me was true. This event most likely had begun because of that new Pharmaceutical Company that arrived in Redwood about five years ago. Since they were almost unknown here, it wouldn't be a surprise for Stan to not have heard about them coming here. I stayed in the room for quite sometime. After some time passed, Alex found his way into the same room. It seemed this place was interconnected. Alex studied the information in the room as well. Alex looked at me and said, "Those things are very fast. I almost didn't make it…" He sat down on an old chair in the room. "Hey Steve, do you think we'll lose more friends out here?" He asked. "I do, Alex." I replied back. Alex whispered in a low voice, "Derek is going to become one of the soon. He was on the verge of dying when I last saw him about forty minutes ago. I doubt he can survive much longer." I thought so too. Suddenly, the door bust open and the now dead Derek came in the room. He was bleeding. He slowly walked towards us. "Oh shit! It's Derek and he's become one of them!" I shouted. He continued walking. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that he was different from the others. His muscle tissue was larger and his claws and teeth were pointier than they were before. The zombified Derek shuffled towards us quicker than the normal ones outside. He definitely was superior to the others. "Alex, go over there." I said calmly. "Damn, it just keeps getting worse! How the hell are we supposed to survive with all this shit happening one after the other?!" Alex shouted. Apparently that was a bad idea because more crimson zombies came in the room with their flashing yellow eyes."A-Alex? Is there a gun nearby?" I asked in a fearful voice. Alex replied quickly, "Luckily there is! I found a fully loaded handgun. It seems to have been left here for a while!" He picked it up and threw it to me. I grabbed a hold of the gun. It felt good to finally be armed with a useful weapon. Derek bolted at me. During the time, when I asked Alex for the gun, he must have mutated into a stronger type of zombie due to the mutations caused by the T-virus. I pointed the gun at my undead friend. I knew it was best for me to end it but it wasn't going to be as easy as I expected. I waited for him to come closer and then I pulled the trigger. Derek instantly dodged the bullet by jumping on the ceiling. He swiftly crawled around on the ceiling and jumped behind me. I slid away from him as he swiped his claws at me. I noticed that his brain was slightly visible from his forehead. The brain protruded a little from that area. I then shot a crimson zombie in the knee. When he went down, I put another bullet in his head. I killed one of them just like that. I then ran towards Derek and slid underneath him. I shot at him but he avoided it once again. He followed up with a kick. I was caught of guard but I managed to avoid it. I then made a mad dash towards the backdoor of the room. Derek ignored the fact that Alex was still in the room and chased after me. "Alex, stay in here and look for more ammo. I'll be back soon." I yelled as I ran from Derek. Alex obeyed and did his job. He shouted out to me as I left the room, "Steve, make sure not to die. You know more about this than anyone else. I'll stay back and look for my brothers or anyone else I can find. I'll be careful." I ran down a hall. I lead Derek away from any doors. As I ran, I came face to face with another monster hanging from the ceiling. This one had its brain revealed. It had massive claws and razor sharp teeth. It had a long tongue and a weird fleshy body. This must be what Derek was going to become soon enough. It extended its tongue like a spear and tried to impale me through the head. I dove underneath the creature. The tongue pierced through the floor. I was lucky for that to have happened but I still had to deal with this monster and Derek. I ran back down the hall. The monster dropped down from the ceiling and began lashing its tongue around. I opened fire on the monster. It took 3 bullets to the upper body and 2 to the head. I still had 9 bullets. I shot it in the head. That seemed to still be quite effective. The monster staggered backwards, I shot it again. It moaned loudly. I took another shot. The monster collapsed on the floor. I approached it carefully. I stomped on its head to make sure it was dead, I was right. The monster had been subdued. However, Derek was still in pursuit. He was right behind me. He attempted to slash me with his large claws. I dodged the slash at the last second which caused Derek to slash the back of my vest. I quickly made my way back to the newsroom. Alex was still there but he came with more bad news. "Steve, the dogs are here too! I heard them crash through the windows. I made sure to take those articles with me. If we stay here for another 5 minutes, we might be dead. Quick! We must leave now." I was about to follow his advice when Derek entered the room. Alex pulled out a gun that he must have found while I was running around. Derek rushed at us and swiped his claws. Alex ran towards a bookcase in the room. He wanted to push it on top of Derek. I lead him towards the bookcase and rolled to the side while Alex pushed it down. The bookcase fell on top of Derek. We breathed a sign of relief. Derek was temporarily subdued. There was no point in staying around due to the possibility of him coming back to attack us. "We'd better get out of here, Alex. I think there is a back exit to this warehouse." I suggested. Alex agreed. "Well then, let's get moving before Derek gets back up. We quickly left the room and walked down the quiet hallway to a nearby staircase that led us back to the ground floor. We then heard moaning coming from the door that led to where we first came from. I kicked the door open. A zombie was knocked down. I shot at the downed zombie's head. That killed it. We walked over the dead zombie and walked around a bit. We noticed that the enemies weren't around anymore. That was a little suspicious. I looked out the nearby window and saw Stan beside a helicopter. That could have been our ride out of Redwood. However, two men got out of the helicopter and grabbed Ed and Ray. They then turned Stan and the others away. I saw Jack and Vince shouting as the helicopter flew off. Stan and the others came back inside the warehouse. "Steve, Alex, did you see that? Those bastards took away Ed and Ray and they didn't let us on. It's pretty suspicious if you ask me. Well, come on. We'd better get moving." He explained. "You heard the man. It's not safe to be around here any longer." I stated. Everyone agreed. Suddenly, Derek emerged from the door to the staircase. He was breathing heavily and seemed angry with us. Stan was enraged. "Damn it! How could Derek have become such a monster?! Damn those B.!" He shouted.

"We have no choice but to kill him now that he's a monster!" Jeff stated. Jeff tried to fight with Derek. He hit him with a bat in the head. That stunned him momentarily. However, he quickly retaliated. He slashed off Jeff's hand with his razor sharp claws and pierced through his chest with his other hand. He swiftly pulled out his hand. Jeff coughed out blood and fell to his knees. "D-damn! It looks like it's over for me. G-good bye, guys…" Jeff said with his last breaths. He fell over on his back. Derek growled fiercely. Stan and Alex were angry. I was pretty peeved as well. Just like that another friend of ours was killed. This wasn't Derek anymore. He was a monster. It was our job to kill him.

Jack and Vince pulled out their weapons. They all had the Beretta 8000-Cougar handguns. "You don't kill our friend and live to tell about it. You're not Derek anymore. You are clearly a monster. It's about time that you were killed." They announced. They immediately began to attack. Stan shot off Derek's claws on his left hand. Jack used his knife to stab Derek in the throat. Vince shot a whole in Derek's left arm which caused it to fall off. Derek jumped on the ceiling and began lashing out his tongue. Jack shot him in the head which caused him to fall hard on his back. We surrounded him and each took a shot at his head. This managed to subdue him. Derek stopped moving. We all sighed. Derek's body turned into a monster and caused many problems for us. We decided to burn his body to show respect for our lost friend. We did the same with Jeff to prevent him from becoming a zombie. Stan stood up after we had done this. Stan seemed to be feeling guilty for our friend's deaths. He stopped for a moment. "Guys, I feel like it's my fault for what's happened. It may not be directly but still. I think it's about time I told you about what happened to my friends…"

* * *

Flash Back 1: Treachery

It was the night of July 16th, 2008. This was back when we lived in Bloomington Bluffs after we moved from Redwood in 2003. I was in my third year of university and was attending Belleview Heights University. I had just come back to my dorm after a night with the guys. I was a little drunk and was about to get ready to crash. I received a message from my phone telling me that two men would be showing up on the 17th. When I got up the next day I was awakened by the sound of a doorbell. "I'll be right there!" I shouted. I kicked off the blankets on my bed and ran to the door. Just like the message told me, two men greeted me. One wore a business suit and talked with a heavy English accent. His hair was combed and he wore tinted glasses. He said, "Greetings, we are with the Zephyrus Corporation. You must be Stanley Roswell, the man that is interested in biology research. We heard quite the rumours about you. We heard you're one of the best interns they have availlable at the campus. We would like you to join us tomorrow afternoon at noon and we will bring you to our headquarters via limo to give you a tour of the building and a job offer. We would like you to consider this carefully. Good day, Mr. Roswell." I replied, "I'll do my best to make it tomorrow. I won't let you down. Thank you for the offer." I let the two men leave and gave some careful thinking on what I wanted to do. Later that day I wanted to tell my friends the good news. I was finally going to be a scientist. I would go on to do great things I thought. I met up with my good friends Freddy Landers, Jayden Whelps, and Remy Jones. I met the guys in my senior years of high school. Freddy was the jock of the group. He really liked hockey and he looked like one. He was the rugged type and had dark brown hair always buzzed and never shaved. He was slightly bigger than me and an inch taller than me. He always wore his Red Wings hockey jersey to school and always wore black pants and his red and black running shoes. We all were interested in the going into the medical field for different reasons. Freddy wanted to become a chemist and a hockey player on the side. Jayden was the smooth player in our group. Girls went crazy over him. He knew what made them tick. He was calm and collected. He seemed to fit the gentlemen role in both appearance and attitude. He was tall and stocky but not that big compared to Freddy. He had messy short black hair and wore a red shirt and a brown bomber jacket. He was never seen not wearing jeans. He loved his jeans but not as much as his black and white Vans shoes. Jayden wanted to become a physician and a singer on the side. Last but not least, there was Remy. Remy was the shortest of the bunch and was thin compared to the rest of us. He had spiky red hair and had very little facial hair; he always wore a couple rings on his fingers and wore a tanned leather jacket and black trousers and his brown shoes. Remy wanted to be a researcher with me as well. Freddy was the first to see me coming to his dorm room. He shook my hand and pulled me into his shoulder. He said, "Hey man, what's up? What's with the grin? Did you get laid or something?" I shook my head, "Nah man, it's better than that. I'm finally going to land my dream job. Some guys came to my room and offered me a job at their corporation. All I got to do is take a tour and sign some contracts." Freddy put his hand on my shoulder and shook his head, "That's better than railing a hot chick? Man, you're a strange one I tell ya. Ah what the hell, you finally landed a real career! Now come here man, we're going to celebrate!" He grabbed me and put his arm around my neck. "Yo, we're going to get some hot girls and see if we could score. It's going to be fun, man." Remy opened the door and let us in, he shouted, "Ah yeah! We're going to have a good time tonight I assure you! Congratulations, Stan! You're already getting a top job. Man, I'm so jealous right now! Damn, it's going to be so awesome having so many good looking girls here tonight!" Jayden arrived minutes later with a bunch of beer. "There's my boy, Stan. Freddy already told me the news. I hear the company that wants you is big. I think you're set right now, Stan. Your brother will be so happy for you. But never mind that, we need to get this place cleaned up or we'll miss out on the ass we'll be faced with." I joked, "Now if only, you're ex-girlfriend hears about this. I bet she'd be so jealous. You were the best she had. Too bad she's with that douche bag Spanish guy now." Jayden nodded. "Pfft, she's never going to get another chance with me. Forget her, Jenny Hughes is way hotter than she was and definitely has a better personality. I'm hoping we could hook up. Screwing her would be even better but I'm not risking it if I don't get to go out with her. By the way Stan, who was that girl you were eyeing the other day? She must have been recently transferred because I've never seen her." I was quick to answer, "Her name is Laurie Hauser, and she's German. I've had a couple girlfriends in the past but she seems different. I've had the opportunity to talk to her and she is really interesting and fun to be around. She's extremely talented and smart. Don't tell me she's coming too is she?" Jayden shook his head, "Don't worry about her, just have a good time today and after you can go on a date this Saturday if you want. Come on dude, let's go inside and discuss how everything is going to play out." This was the last conversation I had with Jayden about relationships. The night was fun filled but I couldn't stop thinking about that girl I met so much that I didn't end up screwing any of the girls that showed up. The very next day, the man I met yesterday showed up in a limo, he escorted me inside and we headed for Zephyrus. He saw that I was nervous. He asked me, "Why are you so shaky? Here have some whiskey; it'll calm your nerves." I was reluctant to have some but I couldn't refuse. "Thanks, I appreciate it. By the way, what is your company interested in? You told me the biologic research is intense." The man smirked, "We're interested in finding new animal species and studying them to get a better understanding of how they react and adapt to foreign ecosystems." He piqued my interest, "Really? That sounds very interesting. I've been looking for a job like this for ages. I'm so glad you chose me to work with you." I told him. He pointed out the black window to a large building. "Here it is, Zephyrus Incorporated. Come with me, I'll show you inside." With that, he showed me around. Once we were inside, he showed me the offices and all the unimportant little parts like the storage and supplies outlet but eventually we were at the research centre. He showed me some animals I've never seen before. One was a rare type of elephant that was white. It was very aggressive and violent. I ran around the large room it was it and smashed the floors, the trees and everything around it. I asked the man, "What's wrong with that elephant?" He told me, "That is what we want to know, how did this elephant become this way and for what reason. We've justified the answers. This particular elephant was the alpha male of its herd but the hunters killed them and tried to hunt him down as well. The report was that the elephant withstanded the bullets of the hunters and killed them. We've tried our best to correct its behaviour but he simply won't let us. That's why we need people like you. You can help us make animals like this one right here calm down and lose the attitude." He explained. Just then he got a phone call, He left me for a moment. When he was gone, I looked in the other rooms and noticed a door that said, 'Do not enter'. I was curious so I opened it quietly and saw some soldiers enter a glass room, they were faced with a large group of humans that looked strange. Upon closer inspection, they were monsters. They lunged at the soldiers. Most were torn to shreds by the soldiers but the remainder killed a few soldiers. They tore at their flesh and began eating it. I was disgusted. I nearly threw up at the sight and quickly left. I returned to the room with the elephant and waited for the man to return. He came back shortly. I could see that he seemed impatient. "The higher ups want to speak with you, Mr. Roswell." He showed me to an office on the top floor. I met with a man who was in a corporate suit and sat on a large chair. He told me to come closer. "So, you're the famous Roswell we've been hearing about. You're quite the remarkable man. We've heard great things about you. Are you interested in joining us, lad?" He asked me seriously. I responded, "I'm sorry sir, the working environment seems a little dangerous. The animals that I've seen have major problems. They are all very aggressive. I don't think I can do tests on them without being hurt. Please accept my apologies." I was shocked by his sudden change in attitude. "You think you can come to my company and refuse my offer? Hahahaha! You're such a fool! You don't understand our motives, boy. You best join us now or something terrible with happen. Do you understand me?!" He growled. I was in no position to yell at him, I whispered. "No, I will not join you. I'm sorry, sir. I can't work in a place like this. I'm not comfortable with your behaviour." I quickly left the room and went back to the first floor. The man I met earlier greeted me. He was doing some paperwork and gave me a creepy stare. He smiled, "You're making such a big mistake by doing this. If you reconsider, I'll be happy to explain to my employer that you're not so bad." I was afraid of these people. They were insane. I shouted, "Get away from me! I've seen the monsters you created, you bastards! You're not interested in helping animals; you only care about using your monsters to kill people!" I ran out of the building and called for a cab to take me back to campus. I was out of breath when I got back and I felt light headed. My friends rushed to help me as soon as they saw me. They were worried about my condition. Jayden frantically brought me to a couch. He said quietly, "What went wrong, Stan? You look like you've seen a ghost." I told him what happened. He stepped back for a moment, "What? Are you serious? Those guys must be bad news to talk to you like that. I'll offer you some advice. Stay away from those people. Get the cops to deal with them if they bother you again. Freddy went to get you some medication and Remy went to get you a drink." I felt better afterwards. "Thanks guys, you're the best. I'm glad I can count on you." Freddy tried to do a background check on the name Zephyrus. "No luck… these guys are bad news. They blocked all information regarding what they do. Stan, I don't think this is the end of it. But don't worry; we'll help you through this. You can always find a better place to work." I shouted, "I didn't tell you this part, they do unholy experimentation on humans and animals! They must be supplying the bioterrorists with those chemicals that made those people crazy in Ireland that the last couple weeks on the news. They had soldiers fighting with their experiments. They killed each other brutally. The soldiers weren't afraid to shoot unarmed people but the experimented people were mindless. They acted like cannibals!" Freddy restricted me, "Calm down. I've already sent Remy to contact the authorities. They should put those guys away. I know it!" he reassured me. Remy showed up again a couple minutes later. He told me the situation. "The cops told me not to worry. They've already heard of Zephyrus. They plan on doing a thorough investigation. This isn't the first time they've heard reports of Zephyrus committing crimes against humanity. Two other people from this campus have been recruited but just the same as you, the declined and left. Come on, you need your rest. We've got to go to class man. Take it easy man." This ended my day and things started to return back to normal. I couldn't stop thinking about how the authorities would handle those maniacs. On the 22nd, things were frightening. During the later part of the day, the lights went out and the university was locked down. Luckily for us, we had flashlights and supplies ready just for the occasion. The custodians decided to check out the generator in the basement. The other students didn't think anything of it. They thought it was a power outage. I suspected that Zephyrus was behind it in some way. I talked to my friends about it. Remy couldn't believe it. "Are you sure? I don't think this is their fault. However, it would be best for us to stay on guard." Jayden and Freddy agreed. "Yes, that would be a good idea. We don't know what to expect." Jayden led us to his locker and he pulled out a baseball bat. "I'm getting this just in case one of those Zephyrus men shows up." Freddy grabbed one of the crowbars the custodians left lying around. Remy was unarmed but he could grab anything and use it. He knew the Dean kept some guns in a secret drawer in his office. I was always a big guy so I wasn't worried. However, things would get progressively worse. We heard screams from the other side of the floor. Upon inspecting, we saw dismembered body parts and dead students. We were horrified. Freddy threw up but was able to stop himself. "Ugh, this is terrible. What the hell is going on?!" He yelled. I was thinking the same thing. Remy was worried about our safety. "Shit! We have to be careful out here. They must have one of their monsters in here" I added, "I agree. I didn't think Zephyrus would send some of their experiments here. We got to warn the other students and teachers and get the hell out of here." However, it was too late for them. It was up to us to find a way out. It wasn't an easy task. We found ourselves trapped. I knew one way out. It was in the basement. There was a large window that let outside that was never covered even during a lockdown. We knew what we had to do. I spoke, "Guys, I know a way out. Remember that old window in the basement? We could use that to escape. We must find it!" Jayden wasn't in a hurry to go. He refused, "Not without Jenny. I won't leave without her. We have to find her. Stan, you must be worried about Laurie. She's in danger too. We can't abandon them!" He convinced us to look for survivors. Freddy was nervous. He asked me, "Stan, we're there anything worse than the cannibal people you saw at the place? I don't think one cannibal person could have ripped up those people like that. It looks like the work of a predatorily animal like a coyote or a vulture." I responded, "I didn't see one but I know they experimented on animals so it's possible." We were all nervous about what was lurking in the dark. I heard more screams. They came from the basement. I knew the custodians that went down there had been killed. Remy clutched his flashlight. He stuttered, "D-did you guys h-hear that?! It must have b-been the custodians. I t-think they are d-dead!" Freddy wanted to split up. He stopped and whispered, "We should split up. Remy and I are going to the Dean's office to get some guns. Stan, go with Jayden and look for some more people." I nodded, "We have to hurry. There's no telling what will happen if we don't." We took the west stairs to the biology wing. Both Laurie and Jenny were in the same class. We thought it would be easy to find them. As soon as we got near the vent, large pincers ripped through the metal frame. We leapt back and scrambled away from the pincers. We heard some disgusting sounds coming from our backs. We rolled to the side and saw a large insect lunge past us. I couldn't identify what it was. It must have had multiple insect DNA in it. It looked at us with its large red eyes. The creature was roughly two metres in lengths and more than four feet tall. Jayden swung his bat at the insect but it broke the bat with its jaws. Jayden hit the insect with the handle and we turned tail and ran into the biology classroom. We saw some dead people and some living people who looked like they were in shock. I shook the professor. He screamed and fell backwards. I helped him up. I knew who he was. "Professor Malone? Come on, we need to get out of here! There are some monsters in the building." He gripped my hand tightly, "It's too late. We cannot escape. There are some cannibals outside as well! I'm scared…" Jayden locked the door. He stammered. "Stan! The cannibals are against the door. They are going to get in if we don't hurry!" I was desperate to get us all out of here. I asked the Professor, "Do you know if Laurie Hauser is here today?" Jayden added, "Don't forget Jenny Hughes. We want to find them." One of the students seemed angry with me. He grabbed me from behind. I put my hand to his neck. "Let go of me. I could easily break you. Do not make me say it again." I commanded. The Professor stood up and shouted at us. "Stop it! You're going to get us all killed!" I recognized the guy who grabbed me, his name was Monty Helms. I couldn't tell if he was angry at me because of the monsters or Laurie. We heard more screams outside. Then we heard moaning. Jayden was a nervous wreck. "Those don't sound like crazy people. They sound more like zombies!" Monty pulled me by the hood. Jayden punched him off so we could leave. The professor was getting impatient. He told us that Jenny Hughes and Laurie Hauser were called by the Dean an hour ago before the whole incident began. We were relieved because Freddy and Remy were already there. We left the area and took the stairs on the other side to escape the undead and the insect. As we approached the next door, Monty was upset with me and yelled, "Laurie likes me! Not you! I won't let you look at her let alone speak with her!" Just then the door was flung open and a couple zombies grabbed him. They bit his shoulders and threw him to the group. Jayden pulled the professor, "It's too late for him! Let's go!" The professor followed us. We noticed the other students didn't follow us. Too late for them I thought. As we continued down the hall, we were met with more zombies and another large insect. We heard gunfire to our right. It was coming from the Dean's office. I heard Remy screaming. He yelled, "No! It got Freddy! Hang on Freddy! I won't let you die!" We ran away from them and entered the Dean's office. We saw multiple zombies on the floor and Freddy against the wall. He was dead. Remy couldn't stop shaking. "He sacrificed himself to protect us… I couldn't do a thing to prevent them from killing him." I noticed that Laurie was with him. She had long brownish blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white t-shirt and light blue jeans. She looked pretty today but she always did. I helped her up, "Laurie? It's me, Stan. We're going to get you out of here." Jayden frantically asked, "Where's Jenny?! She was with you! Tell me where she is!" Laurie shook her head. "She killed herself… she took one of the Dean's guns and shot herself in the head… I'm sorry." She burst into tears. Jayden lost it. He grabbed the nearest gun and ran out of the room. I yelled at him, "Don't do it, Jayden!" But before I could stop him, the large insect we met before already had him in its jaws. It broke his neck and tossed him to the zombies. The professor ran out of the room and ran to the right. He screamed loud. The rest of us went to investigate. He was pinned down by a larger zombie. It was Monty that killed him. I shot him a few times with the handgun I received from the Dean's office. But it was too late to save him. He was already dead. To make matters worse, I could see Freddy shuffling towards us from around the corner. He too was a reanimated corpse. It wasn't long before we noticed that there were two of those large insects. I shot at them but it was not enough. My aim was off because I was full of fear. Remy shot at them with the rifle he found in the Dean's office. He managed to kill some zombies and one of the large insects. But we knew we would be surrounded. We took the exit to get to the underground area. However, it wasn't very safe either. We saw the Dean shooting at some of the mutated insects that were there. I put my hand on his shoulder, giving him a fright. "Ahh!!! Don't do that, dammit! I'm trying to shoot!" He exclaimed. We exchanged words for a bit before we continued. Remy paced constantly, he seemed worried and said, "I forgot to tell you something Stan… Freddy was hurt before by one of the large insects we were faced with. He said something about feeling sick before we were attacked by those zombie people." I didn't know what he was implying. I nodded, "Thanks for telling me. Now, come on. We're close to the exit." Just then, Freddy broke the doors down and ran towards us. We were shocked at his sudden burst of speed. He seemed different. His skin was red and his eyes were yellow. He had sharper teeth and claws as well. He lunged at us. The dean wasn't quick enough to escape and was slashed across the face. He fell on the ground. Freddy shoved his claw in his chest and ripped out his heart. He started feeding on the dean's corpse. I directed the others away from the scene. More of the crimson zombies began to chase after us. We were about five minutes from the window leading out of the campus. The other large insect jumped down in front of us. Remy shot at it several times but he couldn't take it out. I shot some of the mutated roaches that followed us and a couple mutated spiders. I had to shoot the crimson zombies as well to ensure our survival. Remy didn't see Freddy coming and had his throat slashed. He gagged and fell on his knees. Freddy tackled him on the floor. The monstrous insect followed suit and the two were ripping through Remy's flesh. I shouted, "Stop it Freddy! Damn! My friends… I couldn't save any of them!" It was pointless to grieve. I led Laurie to the final room. We noticed that the entire room would get overrun in a few seconds. I broke the window with the handgun I held and we were ready to escape. I told Laurie, "I want you to go first… I don't think I'll be able to escape. Just go without me." She refused, "No… you have to live. I can't go on after what has happened today. It is your duty to make sure this never happens again and that the ones responsible are brought to justice." She made it clear she was going to stay back. I couldn't just let her die and not tell her how I really felt about her. I hugged her, "Laurie… I want you to know how I feel about you." She looked up at me, "You really care about me that much, Stan? I'm so glad…" I continued, "I love…" Before I could finish she pushed me out the window. I fell onto my back and got up quickly to save her. She ran towards the undead with my handgun and shot at them. Eventually she was attacked. I turned my attention away from the sight of her death. I knew what I had to do. I was overcome with sorrow but I refused to stop. I continued to leave the area. Just then I received a message from an anonymous person. It said, 'We warned you. You could only blame yourself Mr. Roswell'. I was angered and broke my phone. I managed to escape the area. As I turned to look at the school one last time, I saw a helicopter pass by with a missile attached to the bottom. It released the explosive and destroyed the school. I was lucky to be alive even though I didn't feel a sense of accomplishment from it. After the incident, I swore I would not rest until Zephyrus and those affiliated with any bio weapon were destroyed.

* * *

Stan gave us some insight about what Zephyrus was capable of. None of us knew that this happened to him. He was dismissive of the subject. "Alright guys we'd better get moving before more creatures decide to come inside. While we're walking out of this damn building, we'll discuss our plans of escape. We're going to use the sewer system to find our way to the outskirts of Redwood. Once we get out of the sewer system, we'll head to that small military base and use their helicopter. If we get separated for any reason, the rest of us will get to the chopper and come back for you. Just make sure that you don't get yourselves killed, me included. Now let's go through with our plan of escape." He declared. "That sounds like a plan, Stan. We'll be sure to go through with it 'til the end." Jack said confidently. Vince agreed. "I'm with Jack on this one. We'll definitely survive through this even if we get into a couple sticky situations along the way." Vince joked. Alex sighed, "I hope that we don't have to deal with anymore dangerous monsters." "Don't worry about it, Alex. With the five of us together, we'll be able to handle this." I assured. Alex pulled out his gun. "Alright, I guess I should be confident so that I can be better prepared for what we will have to deal with." We continued to walk on a nearby street as we were ready to get to the sewer system and north to the military base. As we were passing through a parking lot, there was a large eighteen wheeler truck. Alex and I passed the truck on the right side while Stan and the others passed on the left. As we were passing, were heard something from the roof of a nearby building. It sounded like a liquid spilled from the top. Before we could react, it landed on the hood of the truck and it went ablaze. We instinctively ran from the truck. We were separated by the blaze. I heard Stan from the other side, "Damn it! This is impossible. We can't regroup now. You guys try to find another way out. We can't guarantee your safety now that this has happened." Alex shouted back, "Don't worry about us. I want to find out who was responsible for that." I added, "I was also thinking that we should explore Upper Redwood to see if we could find any more survivors. We'll see you when we get out of this place. We'll definitely survive through this." We proceeded down the path that we were stuck with while Stan, Jack and Vince did the same on the opposite path. While we were walking ahead, I noticed that we were nearing the Redwood Firearms Shop. "Look, we're getting close to the gun shop!" I pointed out. Alex saw it but he didn't seem to care much. "Didn't you notice that there aren't any zombies or anything around? It's a little suspicious if you ask me. I feel like I'm being watched as well." He warned. He was right. There weren't any zombies or creatures around to attack us. That was definitely suspicious. The ground was uneven as well. I noticed that there was a nearby car. Alex didn't seem to watch where he was going and lost his balance. He tried to stop himself but he ended up smashing into the same car. Immediately the car alarm started. I rushed and helped Alex back up. He shouted, "Shit! We better get the hell out of here!" All of a sudden we saw a large group of dogs showed up and started to growl. A couple seconds later, the zombies started to shuffle around and stumbled out of the alleys. Some crows flew to the area and were staring at us. I exclaimed, "What are we going to do?! There's no way we could get away from all of them. Unless we make a mad dash to the gun shop, we're screwed. Damn it, we've got no choice." We bolted away from the enemies. We dodged the zombies that were near us. They tried to bite us and threw their arms towards us. The crows swooped down to get us but we avoided them somehow. The dogs seemed to be the most dangerous ones. They leapt over zombies and even killed some of the crows that were in their way. The zombie dogs were hot on our trail. We threw the garbage cans down in front of them as we ran. We took a nearby path that had a large fence to protect us from the crows. We zipped past the zombies as well. All we needed to do was run a little further and we would be at the gun shop. We ran to an abandoned building a couple buildings away from the gun shop. When we entered, we saw a zombie wandering around a table. We quickly killed it and looked around. I found a few handgun clips and some green herbs. Alex found some red herbs to go along with my green herbs and about six grenades. We walked upstairs to take a look around so that we could find more supplies. Alex noticed something by the window. "Hey did you see that? There is something outside." Alex pointed out. I looked and saw something as well. "Wait, you're right. Shit, it might be a licker!" I shouted nervously. Suddenly, the window burst open. We quickly jumped back to avoid the broken glass. The creature that had emerged from the window wasn't a licker. It was a large mutant cockroach with big sharp teeth and big eyes. The roach quickly made its way towards us. We had no choice but to fight it. Alex and I shot at the creature. It didn't seem to be having much of an effect. "Damn it, that carapace is too thick. What are we going to do?" I asked. Alex seemed to know how we were going to deal with this creature. "Here's the plan; we will dodge its attacks and when it opens its mouth, I'll toss a grenade in there and then we'll have to get the hell away from it. Let's see how well this works out." Alex declared. The roach tried to slash us with its legs. We jumped back and continued to shoot at it. Still that hadn't provoked it that much. It spat acid to attempt to finish us quickly. However, we avoided that too. It leapt across the room in rage. I kicked it when it landed and that somehow pushed the creature back. Alex shot it in the eye. It screeched disgustingly and opened its big ugly mouth. Alex quickly tossed a grenade in there and dragged me down the stairs. About three seconds later the explosion went off and we heard the creature's body break apart. We managed to kill it quickly without much trouble thanks to Alex's quick thinking. We quickly left the building. We noticed that the creatures were spread out. We used that to our advantage to get to the Redwood Firearms shop. We quickly opened the doors and locked them. Now we could get some real weapons to defend ourselves.


End file.
